Searching for a Resolution
by Alecto Perdita
Summary: The demise of Fuhrer Bradley and the destruction of the Philosopher's Stone leaves many questions to be answered. Roy Mustang may be on leave from the military but his search for the Fullmetal Alchemist has just begun. [Complete, one-shot]


**Searching for a Resolution**  
By Alecto Perdita  
Rating: PG  
Warning(s): Spoilers for the end of the anime series (not including the movie that is about to come out in Japan)  
Posted: January 17, 2005 on LJ  
Revised: August 11, 2008  
Email: alecto . perdita (at) gmail . com

Disclaimer: Fullmetal Alchemist is the intellectual property of Arakawa Hiromu, and is being used in this fanfiction for fan purposes only. All situations, opinions and characters not belonging to Arakawa Hiromu are the intellectual property of Alecto.

* * *

"General."

"You don't need to address me as that right now," he smiled at her in the kindly manner she had become familiar with in the last month and a half they had been living together. "Neither of us are on active duty right now."

Riza Hawkeye nodded. She watched as her superior, the Flame Alchemist and Brigadier General Roy Mustang, returned to the pensive state he was in before she had entered the small kitchen with lunch. This was an even more familiar sight since the last few weeks. As she set his sandwich by his arm, she noticed the pile of opened letters.

"Still no luck?" Riza's eyes were downcast.

"Ah," Roy tapped his fingers against the tabletop and scowled unpleasantly. His hand reached up for his left eye. When the fingers grazed the eyepatch, he stopped suddenly and dropped his hand.

"Is your eye bothering you?"

"No."

"You should really worry about yourself first. Everyone is looking forward to your return." She said very quietly.

He ignored her words and continued with his own train of thought. "No one has even seen his shadow. He still wouldn't just vanish like this. He has to be out there somewhere."

"Are you going to keep searching for him?" Riza glanced at the letters again. "No one has seen or heard from him in over a month now. We were two of the last people to see him before he disappeared. The military has granted Edward-kun a pardon and dismissed him from the ranks. He…he wouldn't just leave his brother behind after everything they went through together."

"Fullmetal isn't dead. He's too stubborn to just die. I'll have a few things to say to him if that's true otherwise." Roy clenched his fist tightly.

"Even Alphonse-kun doesn't know what happened. Did Edward-kun sacrifice himself for his brother?"

"No," he stood abruptly. "He's already survived so much. Fullmetal has to be out there somewhere."

"Roy…"

He grabbed the cane leaning against the kitchen table and hobbled toward the door. Riza was worried, and she wasn't the only one. He wasn't making the progress he should be in his recovery. She bit down on her lower lip harder. He was too absorbed in his search for the Fullmetal Alchemist to worry about himself.

"Roy!" she didn't know what came over her when she called after him like that. "I…I lo-"

He stopped in the doorframe and cut her off without turning to face her. "Don't, First Lieutenant."

Her posture straightened and she looked forward, "Yes, Brigadier General."

When she blinked, he was gone. She closed her eyes and wondered why she allowed that sentimental impulse to overrule her common sense. They still had a working relationship after all this was done. Besides…she had always known she could never compete with Edward Elric when it came to Roy Mustang's heart.

-x-x-x-

Roy hadn't been here since he was initially injured after his altercation with the former Fuhrer Bradley. He stared at the headstone and leaned forward on his cane for support. There were fresh flowers by the grave. Maes' family must have visited not too long ago.

A strong breeze blew into the graveyard and seemed to swirl around the headstone, indicated by the way the flower petals moved in the wind.

_"Oi, you should have been by earlier and seen Elysia-chan. She gets more beautiful by the day. Just like her mother."_

Roy had never been a superstitious man and as an alchemist, he didn't believe in ghosts or other spiritual entities either. This was one of those times he was willing to ignore all that and just take what he saw at face value. He wanted to believe in this possibility, even if it was only a figment of his imagination in actuality.

"You're as annoying and as trivial as ever." Roy sighed with a faint smile.

He looked up into the smiling eyes of what was either the illusion or ghost of the deceased Brigadier General Maes Hughes. This wasn't the first time Roy had witnessed this phenomena and a part of him hoped this wouldn't be the last time either. Maes stood by his side with his hands stuck in the pockets of his uniform. He always appeared dressed in the military uniform he had been buried in.

_"And you need to get married so you can know this wondrous joy too. You'll need a good strong woman to keep you in line, like Riza-chan! Why didn't you let Riza declare her love for you? You do know that was what she was trying to do, right?"_

He lowered his gaze to the ground. "I knew, but I couldn't allow her to do that."

_"Why?"_

"I just couldn't. It wouldn't be right for her to commit herself to me when I have nothing to offer her in return. I owe her that much, don't you think?"

_"Because you have to find Edward-kun first?"_

Roy smirked. Maes always knew him better than himself and if this Maes truly was just a figment of Roy's imagination, it was no wonder he would know too. "How do you just know these things about me?"

Maes tipped his hat, which Roy was sure his friend hadn't been buried with. _"Ah, I'm not with the Investigation Division without good reason. Such a pity though. After all this hard work, the military passes all power over to the Parliament. I almost feel as if my death was in vain."_ The other man pouted like a reprimanded child.

Roy felt his lips tighten into a thin line. "Only you could speak of your death so flippantly, Maes."

_"I suppose. I'm grateful though. You did so much to avenge my death, but somehow it doesn't feel like it's worth it. I died for Edward-kun in some ways too and yet, he's still nowhere to be found."_

"Fullmetal's not like you," Roy closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. "He's much more stubborn and resilient than you. And he's nowhere as annoying or trivial."

Maes laughed and Roy thinks he can actually hear the sound resonating in the air. _"True, Edward-kun and you are of the same sort. You two ought to have long lives if only just on principles. So why not together?"_

He glared at the apparition, more and more convinced it wasn't real. "You're dead. Aren't you supposed to be granted with some sort of supernatural knowledge?"

His best friend winked. _"Maybe, but aren't the best adventures in life the ones we make for ourselves? I'm sure Edward-kun would agree too. Go out and find him. Someone has to remind him he has people waiting for him here and you've been keeping him in line all these ways and protecting him. He can be such a stubborn kid until someone knocks some sense into him."_

"I can't," Roy remembered this vague sense of helplessness when he first stood before this grave for the first time and contemplated committing the ultimate taboo as the Elric brothers had. "I don't know where to begin."

Maes swings his arms around Roy's shoulder and the Flame Alchemist looks up in surprise. He could feel the weight of Maes' arm. His head turned to the side and shocked eyes met serious ones. _"Like any good investigation, the beginning is always a good place to start. Say hello to Alphonse for me."_

Then the ghost was gone and Roy was left standing alone in the cemetery again. "From the beginning, huh?"

-x-x-x-

Riza shot up into a sitting position on the couch when she heard the front door slam. She reached for her gun on the end table, but stopped when she saw a piece of paper resting under it. Her hands shook for some reason as she retrieved and unfolded the note.

It simply read:

_I'm going to Risembool and I don't know when I will be back. Thank you for all your hard work._

Impersonal and professional, she couldn't have expected anymore from him.

She dropped the note and dragged her hand down her face as she schooled her features into an impassive expression. Black Hayate whined slightly as he stretched up and buried his nose in her lap. She buried her hand in his soft fur and tried not to concentrate on the big gaping hole in her chest where her heart once resided.

She would be strong regardless. She would be satisfied with standing by his side, if that was all she could get.

-x-x-x-

When Roy first stepped up onto this porch four years ago, he had thought this house to be extraordinary ordinary. Yet now, there was a whole new meaning to all of it and it made him hesitate for a second before knocking on the door.

"I'll get it, Pinako-san!"

That voice made Roy pause for another second. It sounded familiar, but not quite at the same time. The door swung inward to reveal a young boy, probably about ten or eleven, who looked up at him with a curious yet analytic gaze. The short blond hair was familiar, but it took Roy far too long to place a name on this face. His eyes widened when he realized who this was. Sheska had reported this to him, but the possibility didn't sink in until he was faced with the actual miracle.

"You're…" Alphonse Elric opened the door wider and took one step back. The boy turned as Roy tried to recompose himself. "Pinako-san, we have a visitor!"

Pinako Rockbell stepped out from another door behind Alphonse with her usual pipe in hand. She approached them and regarded him carefully, "Colonel, I wasn't expecting to see you."

"It's Brigadier General now." He corrected her without much conviction.

"So it is," she remarked just as casually and pulled the door open fully, "Please come in then, Brigadier General."

Roy felt a bit uncomfortable as he knew all eyes were on him when he entered the house.

Alphonse looked up hesitantly from the floor. His grey eyes, almost dull, were nothing like the feral gold of his older brother's. "You… Are you Colonel Mustang?"

-x-x-x-

Roy leaned against the wall of the house on the porch outside and stared up at the moon and stars. What a fine mess he had dug his way into. He didn't know half the people in that room and more of them seemed hostile toward him than not. He sighed and leaned his cane against the wall. He nursed his glass of scotch in his other hand.

Someone else stepped onto the porch with him, but he didn't care enough to investigate who it was. If it was Winry again, he trusted her good nature to keep from grievously harming an already injured man.

"General…"

He glanced at the girl, the Ishbalite, who stood by his side. She refused to look directly at him for some reason yet her hands were folded neatly over each other on the front of her dress.

"Pardon, but you're Rose, correct?"

She gave a start when he said her name. "Yes."

"Don't worry," he scoffed. "I won't do anything to you. The military has revised its policies regarding the remaining refugees from Ishbal."

"I'm from Liore, not Ishbal." She suddenly replied very firmly.

"My apologies."

She looked back down just as suddenly. "Ed, he died…"

Roy almost thought he misheard her at first. His hand tightened reflexively around his glass. "Really?" he asked in a nonchalant manner. "Why are you so sure?"

"Because I saw it with my own eyes."

Those words made Roy falter for another few seconds. "Do you mean to tell me there's no hope then?"

"No, Ed came back. Al transmuted his dead body and brought him back."

"But how?"

"I'm not too sure either. I didn't really understand what was happening when I came to. All I saw was Ed lying on his back in a puddle of his own blood. They used the Philosopher's Stone somehow… When Al vanished after he revived Ed, Ed told me to leave and take another child with me. He said he was going to destroy that place, so that no one would ever seek out the Philosopher's Stone again." Rose was staring intently at the hills in the distance. Her hands clutched the front of her dress so tightly that the fabric crinkled messily.

What Rose had just told him confirmed his suspicions all along. The Philosopher's Stone had been successfully created in Liore and Fullmetal had taken it when he went AWOL. The two had finally found what they wanted more than anything else so why did everything turn out this way?

Roy remembered some of the last words he had exchanged with Fullmetal.

_Some things are more important than your dreams. _

He quickly took another swig of his scotch to combat the other burning sensation rising in his throat. "I always wondered if he had a hero complex." He grumbled.

"There's no need for such glum faces!" Winry Rockbell declared as she stepped out onto the porch. "Ed will come back. He always does because this is his home, even if he won't admit it. His family is waiting here."

"Winry…" Rose began but didn't appear to know how to articulate her feelings.

The blond girl stretched and leaned back against the wooden railing. "I'm positive, so you shouldn't worry so much, Rose. You didn't abandon him. He would have forced you to go in some way if you argued. He's always been like that since he was a kid. Ed always needed to be the one who made everything better."

"Hero complex," Roy grumbled to himself again.

Winry laughed softly. "That sounds about right."

He watched as a slow smile spread over Rose's face and a glimmer of hope return to her youthful features. "You're right. When Ed comes back, I'll thank him for saving my baby. And he'll come back because he now has two perfect legs to walk with."

"Mmm!" Winry nodded affirmatively.

As he took another drink from his glass, Roy couldn't help but feel like he had been left out of some inside joke. No matter. He hadn't found out as much as he would have liked after coming all the way from Central, but it was a beginning. It was better than nothing at all.

Rose looked up at him and smiled in that soft manner he had become accustomed to seeing. "With people like General and Al looking for Ed, I know you'll find him somewhere even if he can't find his way back here. So please don't give up."

Winry's head bobbed up and down in agreement. "That's right, that's right. Ed won't have anywhere to run to between the two of you even if he was trying to get away."

A child's cry suddenly broke the quiet of the night and a call for Rose soon followed. The dark skinned girl excused herself and quickly disappeared back into the house, leaving Roy and Winry alone on the porch. They remained silent in each other's company for a few moments. Roy wasn't sure what else he could say. He had killed the girl's parents and there would always be a part of him that wouldn't be able to forgive himself for following through with that order.

"General…"

Roy tensed as it was part of his training and his own apprehensions about what she would have to say when they were alone.

"I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you for killing my parents. I don't think I ever can, but I also know you're a good person and despite everything, you've always done your best to protect Ed. You really care for him," she pressed her hands over her bosom. "So please bring Ed back to us."

He watched her for a second before replying with more conviction than he had felt in weeks. "I will. I will."

_ Keep Searching  
The End is Yet to Come_


End file.
